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Images of Ashmolean Treasures now available through Mary Evans Picture Library Mary Evans Picture Library, the UK's leading source for historical pictures, is delighted to announce it is now representing images from the archives of Britain's oldest museum, the Ashmolean. Founded in 1683, the Ashmolean Museum began as a cabinet of curiosities developed by royal gardener and traveller, John Tradescant. During the late 1650s, the collection was acquired by Elias Ashmole, who later gifted it to the University of Oxford. The museum opened to the public in 1846 and is not only the oldest in the UK, but one of the oldest in the world. Today, it houses a unique collection of thousands of objects, photographs, drawings and paintings, covering almost the entire span of human history from antiquity to the 20th century. Among its numerous treasures are paintings by J.M.W. Turner, the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood and the Impressionists, while portraits of eminent personalities from history include those of Flora Macdonald and Thomas Carlyle. Building on the Tradescant legacy of collecting overseas, the museum also owns a vast collection of Eastern Art including Islamic pottery, Japanese prints and exquisite 19th century Indian paintings. Images of sculpture, ceramics, clothing and coins are also significant, with standout objects including the iconic Alfred Jewel, the death mask of Oliver Cromwell and a pair of fine white leather gloves owned by Queen Elizabeth I. "We are extremely pleased to be welcoming such a prestigious and historically important contributor to the library," says, Paul Brown, Managing Director at Mary Evans. "As a specialist library, we continually strive to offer the best possible range of historical subjects to our clients, and the addition of the nationally important Ashmolean collection with its eclectic mix of fine art and artefacts further underlines our commitment to this." Mary Evans is pleased to offer not only the Ashmolean fine art images but also a full range of pictures visually representing the rest of this fascinating museum. The first images from the Ashmolean Museum are available to view online now at www.maryevans.com with many more to follow in the next few weeks. For a selection of images from the new collection, please click here.
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